Walking Speed: New Clue to Seniors' Health
Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 5:37AM
Investigators in France have reported that seniors in their study who walked slowly were nearly three times more likely to die of heart disease and related causes than speedier walkers. The research team clocked how fast more than 3,200 relatively fit men and women age 65 to 85 could walk. Participants used a measured course down a corridor, and were timed after being asked to move as speedily as they could without running. Then the investigators followed the study enrollees for five years. During the course of the study, 209 participants died from various causes, but the death rate among the third of the participants who were the slowest walkers (men whose speed was about 3.4 miles per hour or slower and women who walked at 3.0 miles per hour or slower) was 44 percent higher than among the faster walkers. The study was published in the November 11 BMJ online. One of the researchers suggested to Reuters Health that such risk factors as high blood pressure and diabetes could cause silent strokes that make it difficult to walk fast.
Reader Comments (1)
Hello
So True!!!!